Erectile dysfunction, sometimes called “impotence,” is the repeated inability to get or keep an erection firm enough for sexual intercourse. “Impotence” may also be used to describe other problems that interfere with sexual intercourse and reproduction, such as lack of sexual desire and problems with ejaculation or orgasm. Erectile dysfunction, or ED, can be a total inability to achieve erection, an inconsistent ability to do so, or a tendency to sustain only brief erections. These variations make defining ED and estimating its incidence difficult. Estimates range from 15 million to 30 million men in the US and over 150 million men worldwide, depending on the definition used. The treatments for impotence include medications, vacuum devices, injectable drugs and implant surgeries. Perhaps the most publicized advance was the introduction of the oral drug sildenafil citrate (Viagra) in March 1998. Viagra fails to work for three out of 10 men, according to one published source or can not be used by 50% of men with erectile dysfunctions due to side effects according to other medical sources. In older men, ED usually has a physical cause, such as disease, injury, or side effects of drugs. Any disorder that causes injury to the nerves or impairs blood flow in the penis has the potential to cause ED. The frequency of impotence in men increases with age, about 5 percent of 40-year-old men and between 15 and 25 percent of 65-year-old men experience ED. Medications can produce many undesirable side effects including death. Vacuum devices are clumsy and inconvenient; surgeries are painful, ineffective, expensive and even dangerous.
Current external penile support devices do not find broad applications in treatment of impotence due to great discomfort for the users and difficulties to adjust for the variety of men's genitalia. Another problem with existing external penile support devices is that they include a number of parts which often become disassembled during use, possibly resulting in injury to both the user and the user's partner. Additionally, current penile supports are bulky, have large cross-sections and do not accommodate changes in penis size during erection. Current devices are often ineffective in retaining their contoured shape and expensive to manufacture due to their relatively complex designs.